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COMMUNICATION, 



BoAED OF Education, ) 

CoKNER OF Grand and Elm Streets, V 
New York, June 5lli, 18(39. ) 

To Magnus Gross, Esq., 

CliaiTman of the '-''Executive Committee for the Care^ Gov- 
ernment and Management of the College of the City 
of Neio York :" 
Dear Sir— 

I have observed with surprise, and with a sense of deep regret, 
that the proposition is entertained by a large number of the 
Trustees of filling the chair of Latin and Greek, now vacant, and 
even of establishing separate chairs for each, at the College of 
the City of New York ; involving, with the necessary tutors, an 
outlay of not less than $20,000 per annum. The subject in all 
its bearings is one of too vast importance to be treated in the 
ordinaiy method of discussion by the Committee, and I there- 
fore beg leave to place my views in writing to ensure their re- 
ceiving more matured consideration than oral observations could 
secure. 

I pass over tlie question (on which considerable difference of 
opinion exists) as to the propriety of sustaining at all, at the 
enforced expense of the public, an educational institution to 
supply the needs which the College of the City of New York is 
intended to meet. The College exists by law ; we are its guar- 
dians, and the only question we have to consider is, how most 
efficiently and most economically to secure the attainment of tlie 
ends desired by the Legislature. 



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These ends we shall no doubt all agree to be — First : That any 
of the youth of this city possessed of special talents, but lacking 
means for their cultivation, may have placed within their reach 
an education the best possible for the development of their powers 
for the benefit of themselves and of the community ; and, second, 
to provide for the comparatively well-to-do the means of pur- 
suing useful studies in compensation for compelling them to pro- 
vide for the instruction of their less fortunate citizens. 

As it is self-evident that whatever course of studies will tend 
to secure the first of these ends will tend also to secure the second 
and less important, we are spared the necessity of a two-fold in- 
vestigation. 

A very few statistics sufhce to show that neither of these ends 
has been hitherto attained by the College of the City of New 
York. 

It is immaterial what year we select for examination, the imm- 
bers which follow will be found to bear about the same relative 
proportions in every year. I quote from the Trustees' Report for 
1866 merely because it is the latest document at hand which 
furnishes the numbers in the different classes and of the gra- 
duates ; from this report I find, that while there were three 
hundred and eighty-one students in the introductoiy class, only 
twenty-five graduated in that year. The number of graduates 
in 1867 was thirty, and twenty-nine in July, 1868. Of the three 
hundred and eighty-one who composed the introductory class in 
1866, one hundred and fifty-one left the College during the year, 
and doubtless the two hundred and thirty who remahied will have 
dwindled to about twelity-five or thirty by the year 1871. 

Without doribt some proportion of the three hundred and 
eighty 'one leave the College because of the necessity they are 
under of obtaining, by tlieir labor j the means of subsistence ; 



but, when it is reiiiembered that these three hundred and eighty- 
one are the picked yotcth from the mcony thousands attending 
the j)vhlic schools^ 2i\idiw\\Qii t\\Q ^diQYifiQQ^ and privations which 
men and youth imbued with a love of learning will make and 
undergo for the acquirement of knowledge are borne in mind*, 
we must look to something in the constitution of the College it- 
self to account for this result. In short, we can but come to the 
conclusion tJiat the main cause of this falling off is to be found 
in the feeling, which grows upon the pupils and their guardians, 
of the comparative uselessness of tlie studies to which they are 
consigned. 

Let us examine the course of studies, as given from pages S to 
14 of the Eeport of the Board of Trustees for the year 1866, or 
from pages 24 to 28 of the Manual of the College. 

The first observation which must strike the mind of every 
thinker is the fact that the primary analysis — the main classifica- 
tion w^hich has been adopted of studies which ought to be framed 
to fit the students for " complete li^dng " is one of " words " — 
i. e.^ the tools of knowledge, instead of knowledge itself. Or in 
the words of the report : " There are two courses of studies — 
— ancient and modern — differing only in the languages studied." 

On examining the course for the introductory and freshman 
classes, a feeling of astonishment must fill the mind at the 
marked want of wisdom by wliich it was dictated, but which at 
the same time affords a sufficient explanation for the abandon- 
ment of the College by its students. 

Even if '^ words^'' ought to 1)0 the real object of education, it 
would be supposed that English words would be more useful to 
a people whose mother tongue is English, than tlie words of any 
other language ; yet the students of tlie introductory and fresh- 
man classes of the ancient course receive instruction ^^'d hours a 
weeh through hoth terms in Latin and Greeh^ and one lesson jper 



ivecJt (luring one term in the English language. The students 
of the modem course substitute for Latin and Greek the Frencli 
and Spanish languages. 

I purposely abstain from saying anytliing as to tlie method of 
instruction, which is the converse of that adopted l)y nature, and 
as a conse(pience signally fails. This has been so forcibly put 
by President Barnard, of Columbia College, tliat I need only 
refer the members of our Committee to his essay on '' Early 
3[cntal Training and The Studies Best Fitted For It.'' 

AVhat steps are taken to familiarize the students of, say the 
freshman class, with that great nature of whicli tliey form a 
])art I What, for instance, do they learu of the structure of 
their uwii bodies and of the meaus of preserving health? One 
lesson a iceek is given on Physiology and Hygiene, and that 
is all ! The fear of making this letter too long compels 
me merely to refer the Comuiittee to pages 40 to 42 of 
Mr. Herbert Spencer's cliapter on " What Knowledge is of 
Most AA^orth,'' in his work on Education, in further illustration 
of this subject, instead of making extracts from it as I would 
otherwise like to do. 

Attention, it is true^ is paid througliout the college course to 
mathematical studies, yet very little to their practical applica- 
tion; while to Chemistry, the parent of modern physics, the 
manual (which is our guide) presci'ibes two lessons per week to 
the introductory class, and to the freshman, sophomore, and 
junior classes absolutely none at all! Mining, Mechanical En- 
gineering, Architei'ture, Theoretical Agriculture, Biology, and 
Botany are utterly ignored ; and no branch of Zoology is even 
mentioned in the curriculum. A\''e next come to a science more 
im]>ortant, because universal in its application and in its need 
than any other, viz. : The Science of Human well-being, com- 



monly called Political or Social Economy. Here, too, like exclu- 
sion ! except that in the sophomore class, for one term, one hour 
per week is given to it. Tliat is to say, a people who are to live 
by labor are left by the guardians of their education in ignorance 
of the laws by which the reward for that labor must be regu- 
lated ; they who are to administer capital are to be left to blind 
chance whether to act in accordance with those laws of nature 
which determine its increase, or ignorantly to violate them ! 

Restrained again from quotation by the fear of wearying the 
Committee, permit me to refer them to the lecture of Dr. Hodg- 
son, delivered at the Koyal Institution of Great Biitain, on " The 
Importance of the Study of Economic Science," which will be 
found in the work o*f Professor Youmans, on " The Culture De- 
manded By Modern Life." 

I confess to a feeling of deep discouragement at the perusal of 
such a record as that presented by the course of studies at the 
College of the City of New York, especially, when I find that 
this is the state of things a large number of the Trustees seem de- 
sirous of perpetuating. My views on this subject are confirmed 
by the following remarks found in President Barnard's Es- 
say on " Early Mental Training, and The Studies Best Fitted 
For It." 

" Whatever may be the value of the study of the classics in a subjective point of 
view, nothing could possibly more thorougJily unjit a man for any itnm,ecUate useful^ 
ness in this matter-of-fact world, or make him mo7'e completely a stranger in his own 
hom,e, than the purely classical education which used recently to be given, and which- 
with some slight improvrment, is believed to be still given by the universities of Eng- 
land. This proposition is very happily enforced by a British writer, whose strictures 
on the system appeared in the London Times some twelve or thirteen years ago. 

"Common things are quite as much neglected and despised in the education of the 

rich as in that of the poor. It is wonderful how little a young gentleman may know 

when he has taken his university degrees, especially if he ?ias been industrious, and has 

stuck to his studies. He may really spend a long time i7i looking for somebody more 

I* 



ujjwraiit than hhnt^elf. If he talks with the driver of the stage-coach, that lands him 
at his father's door, he finds he knows nothing of horses. If he falls into conversation 
with a gardener, he knows nothing of plants or flowers. If he walks into the fields, he 
does not know the difference between barley, rye and wheat ; between rape and turnips ; 
between natural and artificial grass. If he goes into a carpenter's yard, he does not 
know one wood from another. If he comes across an attoi-ne)% he has no idea of the 
difference between common and statute law, -and is wholly in the dark as to those se. 
curities of personal and political liberty on which we pride ourselves. If he talks with 
a countrj- magistrate, he finds his only idea of the ofiice is that the gentleman is a sort 
of English Sheik, as the Mayor of the neighboring borough is a sort of Cadi. If he 
strolls into^any workshop or place of manufacture, it is alwaj'^s to find his level, and 
that a level far below the present company. If he dines out, and as a youth of proved 
talents, and perhaps university honors, is expected to be literary, his literature is con- 
fined to a few popular novels — the novels of the last century, or even of the last genera- 
tion — history and poetry having been almost studiously omitted in his education. The 
girl \cho has never atirred from, horne^ and ic?iose education has been economized, not 
to say 'neglected, in order to send her oxen brother to colt^ge, knows vastly more of 
those things than he does. The same exposure awaits him wherever he goes, and 
whenever he has the audacity to open his mouth. At sea, he is a landlubber : in the 
counfrg, a cockney ; in ioivn., a grecnhor?t ; in science, an ignoramus ; in business, a 
simpletoTt ; in 2)leasnre, a milksop — everywhere out of his element, everywhere at sea, 
in the clouds, adrift, or by whatever word ?(tter ignorance and inrapacity are to be de- 
scribed. In society, and in the work of life, he finds himself beaten by the youth 
whom at tollege he despised as frivolous or abhoiTed as profligate." 

Take the preparation of our youth for theii* duties as citizens. 
Here again, a knowledge of political and social economy is in- 
dispensal)le. We ha^e seen the attention it receives ; and while 
two lessons a week for one hour, and that only to the senior 
class in its last term, are given to American citizens on the Con- 
stitution of the United States and on International law, nons 
whatever is given on the science of Gorernment throughout the 
entire course of five years ! 

I nii2:iit 2:0 throuo-h the whole course of studies with similar 
results. Here and there, in this or that class, a small amount of 
attention is ijiven to some of the sciences omitted in the other 
classes ; but tlie entire record is one of the most disheartening 
cliaracter. 



Word^s ! loorcU ! engrot?s almost exclusively the attention of 
the students from the hour they enter the College until they 
leave it ; and it is not to the five and twenty graduates the palm 
of useful industry should be awarded, but to the many who, in 
discouragement, abandon a course w^hich tends to unfit them for 
the great battle of life ! 

What, then, are the reasons generally assigned for this per- 
verse conventionalism of devoting the time of youth to the ac- 
quirement of dead words, to the unavoidable exclusion of nearly 
everything that is of value ? First, we are told, that ^ve cannot 
understand the English language without a knowledge of Latin, 
from wliich it is derived. The inaccuracy of this pretension 
is at once made manifest by reference to Webster, where he 
states : 

"■ That English is composed of — 

'•'•First. Saxon and Danish words of Teutonic and Gothic origin. 

" Second. British or Welsh, Cornish and AmAric, which may be considered aa of 
Celtic origin. ^ 

" Third. Norman, a mixture of French and Gothic. 

" Fourth. Latin, a language formed on the Celtic and Teutonic. 

" FiftJi. French, chiefly Latin corrupted, brft with a mixture of Celtic. 

" Sixth. Greek formed on the Celtic and Teutonic, with some Coptic. 

" Seventh. A few words directly from the Italian, Spanish, German and other lan- 
guages of the Continent. 

" Eighth. A few foreign words, introduced by commerce, or by political and lit- 
erary intercourse. 

" Of these, the Sajcon loords constitute our niothcr-to ague., being words which our 
ancestors brought with them from Asia. 

" The Danish and Welsh also are primitive words, and may be considered as a part 
of our vernacular language. They are of equal antiquity with the Chaldee and Syriac." 

But even were it true that our language was derived from the 
Latin, wherein lies the difficulty in the way of the teacher ex- 
plaining to his pupils the meanings of the parts of English 
words which are of Latin origin, without the necesssity of the 
pupil's acquiring the same knowledge by the roundabout process 



of learning one thousand words he will never need, for one that 
may at some time be to him of some serWce as a mnemonic. 

Driven from this position, the advocates of " classical " studies 
tell us tliat the study of Latin and Greek serves as a training 
for the intellect. Unquestionably the exercise of the faculties 
of the mind serves to develop the faculties so exercised ; yet if 
this were the object to be attained, Ilebrew, nay Chinese, would 
be preferable to Latin ; but science develops the same faculties, 
and far more efficiently. The facts of science to be stored up in 
the mind are so infinite in number and magnitude, that no man 
however gifted could ever hope to master them all, though he 
were to live a thousand years. But their arrangement in scien- 
tific order not only develops the analytical powers of the mind, 
but exercises the memory in a method infinitely more useful 
and powerful than the study of any language. Finally, we are 
told classical studies develope the taste. If then to this the ad- 
vocates of such studies are driven, its mere announcement must 
suffice to banish Latin and Greek from all schools supported by 
taxation ; for however essential it may be to pro\dde the means 
of the best possible instruction, it is as absolutely out of the 
sphere of the Trustees of Public Moneys to provide, at the pub- 
lic expense, so mere a luxicry as on this hypothesis Latin and 
Greek must be, as it would be to pro\ade the ]3ublic with costly 
jewels ! But even for the cultivation and development of art 
and taste, science is the true curriculum ! 

He who is ignorant of anatomy camiot appreciate either sculp- 
ture or painting ! A knowledge of optics, of botany and of na- 
tural history, are necessary, equally to the artist and to the con- 
nisseur ; a knowledge of accoustics to the musician and musical 
critic. " No artist," says Mr. Spencer, " can produce a healthful 
work of whatever kind without he understands the laws of the 
phenomena he represents ; he must als(> understand how the 



minds of the spectator or listener will be affected by his work — 
a question of psychology." The spectator or listener must equally 
be acquainted with tlie laws of such phenomena, or he fails to 
attain to the highest appreciation. 

I now come to the last and most serious aspect of this question, 
and I fearlessly assert tliat classical studies have a most pernicious 
influence upon the morals and character of their votaries. 

It should not be forgotten that Greeks and Romans alike lived 
by slavery (which is robbery), by rapine, and by plunder ; yet 
we, born into a Christian community which lives by honest labor, 
propose to impregnate the impressionable minds of youth with the 
morals and literature of nations of robbers ! 

This letter has already extended to so great a length that I am 
compelled to abstain from making extracts from the works of the 
greatest thinkers, which I had desired ; and I can now but cite 
them in support, more or less pronounced, of the views above put 
forward, viz. : President Barnard, of Columbia College, who 
with rare honesty and boldness has spoken loudly against the 
conventional folly of classical studies ; Professor NcAvman, him- 
self Professor of Latin at the University of London, England ; 
Professors Tindall, Ilenfry, Iluxley, Forbes, Pajet, Whewell, 
Faraday, Liebig, Draper, De Morgan, Lindley, Youmans, Di*s. 
Hodgson, Carj)enter, Hooker, Acland, Sir John Ilerschell, Sir 
Charles Lyell, Dr. Scguin, and rising above them all in educa- 
tional science^ Bastiat and IlerJjert Spencer. To a modified 
extent, the name of Mr. John Stuart Mill may be quoted — for he 
loudly advocates science for all — science, which is unavoidably 
excluded by the introduction of, or at least the })roninience given 
to, Latin and Greek in our College. Mr. Mill, it is true also, 
advocates classical studies, but for certain special classes wdiicli 
exist in England who have no regidar occupations in life. 



10 

Neither is it without importance as a guide to ourselves to 
observe that in the very best school in this country — a school 
perhaps not surpassed bj any in the world, viz., the Military 
Academy at West Point — neither Latin nor Greek studies are 
permitted. 

If now, in any career whatever, any use could be found for 
Latin it must be in that of the professional soldier, to whom, if 
to any one, the language and literature of the most military 
people the world has ever seen should be of some service. But, 
no I the wise men who framed the curricubim of TTest Point, 
though they knew that the study of the campaigns of the 
Homans would be servicable to tlieir students, provided for their 
stud}', not by tlie roundabout method of first learning a language 
which could never be of any other use ; but by the direct method 
of tlie study of those campaigns ! Are the pupils of AVest Point 
generally found deficient in intellect ? Is not, on tlie contrary, 
the fact of having graduated at that school a passport to the 
highest scientific 2a\A practical employment ? 

Our duty to the people is clear ; let us neither waste the 
precious time of our youth on worse than useless studies, nor the 
money of the citizens on worse than useless expenditure. 

I do earnestly hope that our Committee will give to my obser- 
vations their most serious deliberation. Let us come to no hasty 
conclusion on this suljject : accustomed as we have been to hear 
constantly repeated such conventional phrases as that " Latin and 
Greek are essential to the education of a gentleman ;" that 
" classical studies are indispensable to a lil)eral education ;" to 
hear applauded to the echo orators who have introduced into 
their speeches cpiotations of bad Latin or worse Greek, by 
audiences of wliom not one in one thousand understand what 



It 

was said ; we have been apt to receive such phrases as embodying 
truths, without ever examining their foundations. I respectfully 
urge the Committee to consider well before they act, to study the 
reasons assigned by the great thinkers I have named for con- 
demning, as, humbly following in their wake, I venture to con- 
demn, as worse than mere waste of time, the years devoted to 
Latin and Greek studies. 

Let us endeavor to make the the College of this city worthy of 
the city and of the State ; let us cast aside the trammels of 
mediaeval ignorance, and supply to the pupils of the College 
" the culture demanded by modern life." Let us in this, the first 
important matter which has come before our Committee, act in 
harmony and without prejudice, for the welfare of the College 
and " for the advancement of learning," and so prove ourselves 
worthy of the sacred trust we have assumed. 

I am, Dear Sir, 

Very truly yours, 

NATHANIEL SANDS, 

Member of " Tfie Executive Committee for the Care^ Government, and 
Management of the College of the City of New York.^^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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